Moi Well Ahead in Kenya, but Most in Cabinet Lose

By KENNETH B. NOBLE,

Published: January 2, 1993

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan. 1—
Citing what they said was across-the-board cheating and vote rigging, leaders of Kenya's three strongest opposition parties announced today that they would not accept the outcome of this week's elections, which appear to have returned President Daniel arap Moi to office with the prospect of a majority in Parliament.

The three opposition figures, in a joint statement, said they would not take their seats in the legislature, and they called for new elections.

Final results will not be known until early next week, Kenya's National Electoral Commission said. But unofficial returns with three-quarters of the votes counted show Mr. Moi and his ruling Kenya African National Union leading by half a million popular votes out of three million tabulated.

But high-ranking aides to the President fared much worse, with 15 of 21 members of his Cabinet defeated for re-election.

Mr. Moi, 68, the East African nation's second President since independence in 1964, has ruled for 14 years, succeeding independent Kenya's patriarch, Jomo Kenyata.

The opposition leaders, by rejecting the results of Tuesday's elections, the first significantly contested voting in a quarter-century, have pushed Kenya into a new and potentially volatile phase. In a country with a history of authoritarian governments and a winner-take-all mentality, such frontal defiance is very rare.

The opposition's statement today was read at a news conference by Mwai Kibaki, a former Vice President who leads the Democratic Party, and a political force from the Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest. Mr. Kibaki was flanked by Oginga Odinga, 81, a major leader in the independence era and for a time, Vice President under President Kenyatta; and Kenneth Matiba, a former Cabinet member under Mr. Moi.

Although the three said they would work together to prevent Mr. Moi from continuing in office, they acknowledged in response to questions that they had not yet developed a plan for doing that.

Still, their appearance signaled a new spirit of cooperation among the opposition. Mr. Odinga and Mr. Matiba head rival offshoots of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy and had not spoken to one another since the summer, when they split in a leadership squabble. Many Kenyans say the nearly constant bickering among opposition leaders appears to have denied them their chance of victory.

Mr. Moi, reacting to the opposition's declaration, told reporters today that he was "not going to play their game." He called charges of ballot tampering false, and said his opponents "must be liars." Zaccheus Chesoni, the chairman of the electoral commission appointed by Mr. Moi, also reacted bitterly to the opposition's announcement. He called it fruitless and said it came too late because their parties had taken part in the elections.

Kenya Television Network, an independent station, said that Mr. Moi had 1,763,226 votes and that Mr. Matiba was second with 1,242,705. They were followed by Mr. Odinga with 781,639 votes and Mr. Kibaki with 720,527.

In the contest for control of Parliament, Mr. Moi's party had 85 seats, while parties backing Mr. Matiba and Mr. Odinga each had 25. Mr. Kibaki's supporters had at least 18 seats, and 2 went to minor parties. The rest of the 188 elected seats were undecided or yet to be counted.

[ Reuters reported that most of the results still to come were from remote areas where only the ruling party is strong. While 95 elected seats are needed for a simple majority, constitutional lawyers said Mr. Moi, to be able to push his policies through Parliament, needed two-thirds control. They said this would be made easier by a provision of Kenya's Constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 more members of Parliament, increasing his voting strength. ]

Of the 15 Cabinet members ousted, many held major posts. They included the Foreign, Information, Education, Agriculture, Industry, Commerce, Environment and Agriculture Ministers.

During the campaign, opposition observers complained that their candidates were constantly harassed, that they often could not get permits for rallies, and that when they did receive them, the rallies were often canceled. Some candidates said they had been abducted for periods by Government supporters, and many cited severe limits on access to the state-controlled television and radio networks.

Many of those accusations were given credence by Commonwealth, American and Kenyan observers, who said in their initial reports that there had been numerous irregularities in the voting. An observer with the International Republican Institute said, for example, that he had seen voters waiting in line being bribed by ruling-party officials. Other observers mentioned long delays in reporting votes, which they said undermined the credibility of the process.

The observer groups, however, indicated that it was too early to say the voting had been conclusively rigged, though such a judgment might be made later. The American Embassy has issued no statement on the election.